In the will of the Lord, my wife and I will be leaving for Pennsylvania on Friday morning. I'll be ministering at Greenwood Hills at the Bible Conference. It's really a retreat of the Washington area assemblies, a place I visited about two, three times each year, years ago. And then we're going to take a few days of vacation. Next Wednesday night, Our brother David Lyons will minister the word of God. And he's a little reluctant to do it, but I talked him into it, and he'll be ministering next Wednesday night. Now, while I'll be gone, the Lord's days in November, I'll be here during the week, and the Bible classes will go on during the week, and I'll be here on Wednesday night, and I'm looking forward to to God's ministry to our brother David Morris that second week let's be much in prayer let us seek the face of God for his blessing we're in second Peter chapter three tonight and we want to begin our reading at verse nine second Peter chapter three and verse nine verse eight excuse me chapter three verse eight but beloved Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise that some men count slackness, but he's long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. in which the heaven shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God? That is a most interesting verse. Looking for and hastening unto the whole of the world is hastening to this one thing, the coming of the day of God, the coming of the day when God will be magnified and He will be all in all and sin will never raise a thugly head in the whole of the universe. And the world is hastening toward that time, and preceding it will be a day of judgment. Hastening unto it, we read in this passage, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, the we of this text, are believers, those who have been truly saved by the grace of God. And for those who are saved, it is written in the book of Galatians, that they are the true seed of Abraham. And therefore, Abraham looked for a city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God. And those who are the true children of Abraham, notice it says, nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. Now may the Lord bless the reading of his word. The Lord Jesus is coming again. This is the message that Peter sets before us in this third chapter. The whole of Second Peter deals with a subject of growth in grace. In the third chapter, the first seven verses deal with scoffers. The scoffers who come, as we read in the opening verses, especially verse three, there shall come in the last day scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of His coming? The activity of the scoffers. Scoffers often intimidate the people of God. The people of God when they meet up with scoffers. And one of the big areas of scoffing today has to do with the doctrine of hell. Few people today really believe the doctrine of hell as spoken in the Word of God. And therefore, they say, do you believe that your God is a God of love? They don't understand that God, who is also a God of love, is a God of justice, and a God of holiness, a God of righteousness, and a God of truth. And that the holiness of God makes demands which the justice of God must fulfill. And therefore the doctrine of hell in Scripture, as it is outlined especially by our Lord Jesus Christ, is a theme of the scoffers today. And strange to say, many of the scoffers are preachers. They are. And many times the people of God are intimidated by them. But in spite of the fact that the scoffers say, Where is the promise of He's coming? Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were. You see, in spite of what the scoffers say, the Lord is coming. And that's the theme here. A lie told by a million people never makes it the truth. Truth is truth, no matter who believes it. And this is something we must get in our minds today. and into our heart. Noah was a preacher of righteousness, the word of God tells us. Who believed him? Nobody except his immediate family. Eight people, including Noah, believed. But you see, the unbelief of the multitudes didn't affect the truth of God one bit. The flood came. It destroyed the unbelievers. And Noah and his family were safe in the ark. Now, many people are intimidated by scoffers, but the Lord will come. And verse nine tells us why he has not yet returned. It simply states that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. When God promises something, he always fulfills it. He is able to do that which he planned. God keeps his word. And this is always a challenge to the man on the street. God keeps his word. And verse nine says, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. but he's long suffering to uswards. God is long suffering toward his people. The people of God, those whom he is going to save with an almighty salvation to his mighty grace. He is long suffering to uswards, not willing that any one of them should perish, but that they all should come to repentance. And not a one of God's people will ever be lost. They will all be there in that day. Now we have instructions for the people of God in this passage on how we should live in view of the coming of the Lord. The Lord is coming. We don't know when. He's coming. He's going to return. And he's going to magnify the glory of his grace. When our Lord came the first time, he came in lowliness, to die on a cross, to save his people from their sins, to make reconciliation between God and men. But he's coming again. He's not coming again in lowliness. He's coming again in power and in great glory. Sinful man will not slap him in the face this time. They did when He came the first time. They will not spit on Him this time. They did the first time. They will not pluck the hair from His face this time. They did that the first time. He will never die again on a cross. He did that the first time. And having died on the sin once, that was fully sufficient. When He comes again, He is coming as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In verse one of this third chapter, there is a call to remembrance. And in calling to remembrance the people of God, telling them that he wanted to stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance, he reminded them of what he told them in chapter one and verse sixteen. We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power of and coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter tells those to whom he writes, we have not followed cunningly devised fables. We haven't made up a good plausible story. Oh no. He said, I'm talking to you about reality. I'm talking to you about reality. And now he gives another call to remember it in verse eight. In verse eight he says, but beloved, be ye not ignorant. The scoffers of the last, they are willing or willfully ignorant. We read in the earlier verses and we looked at two weeks ago. Verse five says, for this they willingly are ignorant. They're willingly ignorant of the scoffers are, but here he says, now you people who belong to me, Don't you be ignorant. And in other words, that word ignorant is really a better translation. Literally would mean, don't stop allowing this to be hidden from you. Don't let anything at all hide from you the truth of the coming of the Lord is what it means. Or another way of putting it, he's saying, let not this one thing escape you. The Lord is coming again. So when you look at this passage concerning the coming of the Lord, in verse ten he says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. And then when you look in verse twelve it says, hastening unto the day of God. It makes us take time out to examine the days of Scripture. There are expressions in Scripture that often are used by Bible teachers, and we want to define them. I want to define tonight what is man's day, what is the day of Christ, what is the day of the Lord, and what is the day of God. Four days of Scripture. These are important days. We are living in man's day. I want you to turn. to first Corinthians chapter four first Corinthians four verse three here we have the areas of judgment or the courts the inner court the outer court and the upper court the court of God into which we bring ourselves as a people of God to be judged And we can do this day by day with our lives. And this is what Paul is saying here in First Corinthians four. In verse one he says, Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. The word ministers there in verse four is a very interesting word in the Greek. It is not the word diakonos that is usually used for ministers. It is the word to parities. And it has reference to an under-rower on a ship. A third galley slave. The man who is on the very bottom of the ship who's rowing. A third galley slave. And this is how he sees himself in his work for God. A slave of Jesus Christ. In verse two he says, Moreover it is required in stewards. that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment. And the word man's judgment there, a better translation would be of man's day. In other words, this is man's day. And if you happen to have a Bible with a reference in, it may give you a little help in the reference in there to let you know that that is the translation that should be in there. It isn't man's judgment or that which flows out of man's day. Peter tells us in I, II Peter III, that man's day has brought forth scoffers. That's what man's day has produced. Now what is the day of man? What is it? This expression, man's day, has reference to the time from the fall of Adam to the return of Christ. And you and I are living in man's day. This is a time when non-believers have liberty under the permissive will of God to do as they please to a large extent. And man is doing as he pleases. He shakes his fists in the face of God. He defies God. He rejects the rule of God. And he asserts his own freedom. Man's day. And man's day is drawing to a close. I must confess. that I was tempted tonight to go into Bible prophecy on a message on what the Word of God teaches concerning the rebuilding of Babylon. And I may do that in a few weeks because I'm amazed at what is going on in the Persian Gulf in relation to to that which is written in Revelation chapter seventeen and eighteen. I believe that the city of Babylon was never destroyed according to the way the prophets said it would be in Jeremiah chapters fifty one and fifty two. And that which is written in Jeremiah fifty one and fifty two await that and it's similar and it's speaking of the same thing that is written in Revelation chapter seventeen and eighteen and I believe that the city Babylon will be rebuilt will be a place of splendor and glory and to examine the scriptures that teach this truth is amazing in the light of what is going on at the present time. That's all I have time to say. But we're living in man's day. Man's day. I know someone in the audience would rather have me go into this, but Mary, you're going to have to wait. Mary and I often talk about Bible prophecy, by the way, and I appreciate anybody who studies the Word. And we'll wait. Unless I go on another limb, the day of man, this is man's day. Paul says, I'm not judged by man's day. And you and I shouldn't be. Our lives should be lived in the view not of what man thinks or what man says, but in view of the judgment seat of Christ. This is man's day. Man seems to get away with everything he wants. But that brings us to the second day, the day of Christ. Philippians one, verse six. Paul says, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it in the day of Christ. Here is the day of Christ. This expression, the day of Christ, Philippians one, verse six, has reference to the time. when Christ will catch away his church and bring them home to glory. It is spoken of by Bible scholars as the rapture of the church. The rapture of the church. We're going to be caught up to be with the Lord, as outlined in First Thessalonians four. And we await that day. We're looking for the coming of the Lord, the day of Christ. The day when Christ will bring his bride to himself. A glorious church in that day. Now Philippians one verse six tells us that God never starts anything. He doesn't finish. We start things that we don't finish. But God never does. He who hath begun a good work in you. Be sure that God has begun the work. We're confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it in the day of Jesus Christ. And this gives us patience. It gives us hope. It gives us joy. And it gives us genuine confidence and assurance. The third day is the day of the Lord. Second Peter three, verse ten. This appears constantly in the prophecy of Isaiah, the prophecy of Joel, and other Old Testament writers. They speak of the day of the Lord. Isaiah thirteen, nine. This covers that time period that is covered in Scripture from Revelation chapter six to Revelation chapter twenty. It's that period of time from the rapture of the church, that tribulation period, and into the millennial reign of Christ. It is the day of the Lord. And it is reference to the great tribulation and the millennium when our Lord Jesus has his day. Man's day, man has his day. The day of Christ, Christ calls his bride to himself. In the day of the Lord, the Lord has his day. He's going to visit judgment upon the ungodly. That covers Revelation chapter six through Revelation chapter twenty. Now the word Lord, the day of the Lord, the word Lord carries with us a thought of rule. Man has not submitted to the rule of God. We're living in the day when man does his own thing. It doesn't matter what God has said. What man says is more important. And you see, the day of the Lord is going to magnify the rule of God. The Lord who has been rejected and crucified shall come back. And he's going to institute his rule over man. Now that brings us to the fourth. Second Peter three, verse twelve, speaks of the day of God. And this has reference to the time when God the Father has his day. God the Father has his day. It deals with the close of the millennial kingdom, the great white throne judgment, and the restoration of the earth and the heavens to their pristine glory for which God had created them. We're hastening unto the day of God. Now, there's a great passage in First Corinthians chapter fifteen. I'm going to invite you to turn to it because I believe there is a chronological order in First Corinthians fifteen that needs to be kept in mind. And I mentioned this to a brother once. We were having a good discussion on the telephone on this very subject. He asked me to help him answer a letter that came into his radio broadcast. And I'd mentioned to him that I believe that the key is here in the chronological order. First Corinthians verse twenty four now the theme of first Corinthians fifteen is the resurrection of the body beginning with the resurrection of Jesus Christ which is declared in the gospel and culminating in the resurrection of everybody both saved and lost and all rule and authority being put down and God being all in all. Notice verse twenty-four, where we read, then come, oh, we better go back for a moment, a little further. Notice verse twenty. But now is Christ risen from the dead. Here's the resurrection of Christ and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order. Now notice the order. Here's where you get the chronological order. Christ the first fruits. Afterwards they that are Christ at his coming. Then cometh the end. when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Now verse twenty-seven. For he hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted which did put all things under him and that is none other than God is accepted who put all things under Christ he put all things under his feet as we read in Hebrews chapter two and now here now verse twenty eight and when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all. This is a day of God. This is a blessed eternity of God to which all of creation is moving. God will be all in all. Now, this brings us to a knowledge of the purpose of God. What is God doing? What is God doing? And I think verse eight teaches us that God is a God of eternity. In that expression, a day is with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is a day. In other words, time to God is not like it is to us. God is a God of eternity. But when you get to verse nine, We learn that God has a plan and that things are going according to the plan of God. God is not slack concerning his promise. God is going to gather his people to himself into the fold and not a one of them will be lost. A good example of this is Revelation chapter seven, Revelation chapter fourteen. In Revelation seven, God seals a hundred forty-four thousand Israelites to proclaim his word. Chapter fourteen, we have a hundred forty-four thousand Israelites with a lamb on Mount Zion. As J. Vernon McGee says, you don't have a hundred forty-three thousand nine hundred ninety-nine. No, you have them all there. Not a one is lost. And that's the message of Second Peter chapter three, verse nine. They'll all be there, every one of them. And God's patience is waiting in the display of His matchless grace. I'm so glad that the Lord Jesus didn't return before I was saved. Aren't you? Oh, my friend, I'm so glad that He waited. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise. He's long suffering to ushers. Don't just take that last part of that verse aside and try to make it teach what it is in teaching. I've heard many people do it. It makes God less than God. If you do, it teaches you that God wills something that he's not able to do. God never wills anything that he isn't able to do. You see, God has a program. I'm so glad the word didn't come before I was saved. And I've been saved for fifty years. Just about. Thereabouts. Just about fifty years saved. And I'll tell you, I've never regretted a day of it. The greatest day of my life is when I got saved. The greatest day in my life. I came to know Jesus Christ. Where I'll spend eternity was settled. For the Lord Jesus saved my soul. He made me his own. All my friends, this is the purpose of God. In this age, God is saving sinners. And when God begins a work, he completes it in the day of Jesus Christ. This gives us genuine confidence. God never starts anything. He doesn't finish. Well, our time's gone. Let's pray together. Our Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we stand amazed at your matchless grace. We stand amazed at what your word teaches. Your promise that you're going to come again is sure. you're going to come when we're not expecting it. And that is a word for us to be ready. Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man coming. So said the Lord Jesus. We thank you, our God, for the privilege of being ready. And we thank you that we have a more sure word of prophecy. We thank you that the coming of the Lord is indeed a joyful anticipation to everyone who is in Christ. Take this word and make it real and rich to every heart. For Jesus' sake, amen.